Pet peeve of mine: someone who assumes that every single player playing their difficulty level has the exact same amount of skill as them/same problems with said scenario. Nothing personal, it's RAMPANT among feedback threads.

Muff Malal is definitely a easier choice that will setup new players for SoE much better. I feel that your suggestion of a subtle hint that IotD is a rougher ride has significant merit here.

1. Medium 1.8
2. 7 At first I found it very difficult when defend against the first wave (DA zaps) but then it become easier, of course fighting liches wasn't easy.
3. Very
4. Ok to me...
5. Ambush at the temple, Liches...
6. 5
7. Nope

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.9.4, Normal

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5 due to bad planning and tactics; could have been 3 (even less if I had not tried to kill the Liches)

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Good.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
My own bad decisions were my worst enemy. Second biggest problem was extremely bad luck – a number of times the undead had no trouble hitting units with 60% or 70% defense. Add to that the magical attacks of Dark Adepts and the Liches, and things got pretty complicated a few times

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7 – it was a new and fun experience for me

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
No changes are necessary.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Bad luck made me reload a few times when the situation got pretty hopeless

Thoughts:
This was my first attempt at this scenario (the previous time I played the campaign I took the other path), so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the undead. Combined with the low starting gold the scenario seemed harder than it actually was, so I had to guess and improvise as I went. The end result did not turn out as well as I would have liked, but I managed to avoid significant losses, and even leveled up a few troops (including Konrad to level 3). And not knowing what to expect made the whole thing a lot more fun.

1) 1.8.5 (or whatever ther current official version is), Easy (yeah, I'm bad at this.)
2) 8. Surviving was pretty tough.
3) Clear.
4) Quite good.
5) The difficult terrain, these wretched ghosts and the mistake of leaving Konrad behind at first.
6) 7. At first, I found it annoyingly hard, but somehow I managed to keep my troops together, train some of the criminals and kill both liches with merfolk (one with two turns of storm trident attacks, and one with the coupled force of an Initiate, the Storm Trident wielder and a third merman). Was quite entertaining.
7) I can't think of any necessary changes.
8) No. Luck was with me, the White Mage was in the very first temple.

You should try to work it so that Konrad is one of the ones who participates in killing the first of the two liches. This will put him near one of the enemy castles.

You won't be able to keep your gold from this scenario, but you won't be able to recruit thugs, footpads, or poachers after this scenario either. So instead, spend all your gold on these units! Get a bunch into your recall list in case you will need them later. Footpads and thugs seem particularly good for scenarios with lots of skeletons. Poachers are less useful to you since you will have elvish archers, but I get a few of these also.

I've decided to play this scenario instead of 05a:Muff Malal's Penisula because Muff Malal's Penisula is a way to get more gold pieces before The Siege of Elensefar - aside that and some xp-pumping for your main army, there's nothing interesting there. Here you can get additional two awesome loyal units and ability to recall some of the outlaws units that you'll recruit here, later in the campaign. I'm not really interested in gold from Muff Malal's Penisula, but I'm definitely interested in the Delurin <lvl2, loyal, strong, outlaw> that player gets no matter what type of victory he will achieve in this scenario and Moremirmu <lvl2, loyal, white mage>, probably the most powerful white mage in the game, that wields a holy sword (7-4 melee, arcane damage). Moremirmu joins player only if he will defeat both Liches, so that was what I aimed at.

Spoiler:

There's another bonus from playing 05b:Isles of the Damned. In the scenario 13:Dwarven doors player can obtain a 3rd loyal unit connected only with this scenario - it's Uncle Somf <lvl2, loyal, inteligent, bandit>.

Player starts in a fort on the small isle and is engaged by the Delurin who gives him fixed amount of 100gp to kick some undead buttocks. First objective is to get a nice standing army of outlaws in the center of the map that will lure first wave of undead forces and deal with them as soon as possible. Somewhat simultaneusly, player should send some merman fighters to capture the villages scattered on the small islands and on the main isle coast - outlaw detachment won't really have the time to do that. Around the mid-game, player should recruit only merman initiates and send them (S) or (N) to create a strong assasination naval force.

Moremirmu is hiding in one of the 3 temples on the island, but player should look for him only during the morning phase <lawful ToD> to be sure that he will deal with his pursuit - Xakae <lvl2, revenant> and 3 zombies that will jump out of the random temple. Third temple is empty.

Both Liches are well protected, Jarmal-Gorg (Lich, green) sits in (NW) keep, shielded by the difficult terrain and a mountain range. He has 110gp and recruits mostly ghosts and skeletons. Haf-Mal (Lich, blue) occupies the castle in the far (SW) corner of the map and land road to him is almost impossible to pass safely to finish him off on time. He has more refined taste and with 110gp he goes for skeletons, adepts, ghosts and even a chocobone or two (!). Generally speaking, the best way to deal with them is to toy with artificial intelligence way of thinking. At the beginning AI will send most of it's troops to the center where player outlaw army is, but if player will be able to put some merfolk units behind AI lines, it will try to protect the leader zone of residence and go into the water. It's easy to escape and return on the previous positions which is confusing for the AI. Once we've amassed enough merman initiates (merman fighter with Storm Trident helps a lot here too!) we can go for assasination mission vs. both leaders. Attack on the (NW) keep can be supported by the outlaw force, so we don't need more than 3-4 merman initiates there. Attack on the (SW) keep has to be launched only by the mermen units, so it's a wise choice to amass more merfolk units there. Finished this one in turn 22/24.

2 losses, 27 kills.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Crystal clear.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Very interesting, it's always good for a plot to crash the ship

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

Defeating both AI players on time.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

9.

It's exceptionally well designed and interesting, with a nice bonus loyal units. It demands good tactical approach. It's near perfection

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

No changes required, it's great as it is.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

Content Feedback wrote:(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Medium 1.8.x
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
9 To me it's the hardest scenario in this campaign.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Not very clear. I don't know it is not necessary to kill both leaders.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
No interesting expect for the white mege..
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Turn and gold limit. My troops moves slowly in that Terrain and tactically conservative to preserve enough force fight against the leader. I kill the leaders just in the deadline...
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
There are three temple but only one is good. There are some islands on the right side, maybe something special found there could be more interesting.

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
v1.9.7 - Champion - Challenging

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Very cool. Created a dire situation that also makes the mermen from the previous scenario very useful. Introduction of the shady types was nice as well. I love some of the realism that is employed in these campaigns, always a solid explanation for everything(except for yelling across battlefields ). For instance, using the outlaws gold, not having troops except the merman who rescued you. Well done.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Keeping the veterans alive.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
Pretty fun. Thank God for Moremirmu. The land/sea fighting was cool again.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
None.

P.S.: This is the first time I am roleplayng, instead of going back one turn and plancing better the units, so it's harder doing.

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.8.6

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8, I attempted using some mermen to help, but the mainf force was in land, bad tactis, as one gets to many losses. After a few changes all wrong I decided to recruit a full castle of Mermen Initiates, with the storm trident together, quickly assassinating the NW leader. Than overland the troops stood for xp while recalling thugs and later footpads. (One mermen went south for the villages). With some less losses and the mermen aid it was easy to kill the south leader, and most survivors were well on xp.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Very good

5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Keeping loyals and veterans alive.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
9 It was a dammed good challenge, after many restarts...

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I think it is ok in this way. I loved the new shalow water on the sea, adds new fun if mermen and skeletond find themsleves over there.

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?

Hero (Normal) + Champion (Challenging), 1.9.9

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

1st time on normal 8-9 with several restarts, 2nd time on challenging 5.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Clear enough. Surviving is enough, you get some bonus if you kill them.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Good, in fact much better than most other scenarios in HttT. Going overboard being rescued by merfolk makes perfectly sense.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

1st time (normal): Understanding what is going on, not knowing what to expect, effective use of footpads, thugs and poachers. Killing ghosts without levelling them. Making a plan. Recruiting enough thugs. Time limit.
2nd time (challenging): Economy (I didn't get any other money back, I started the next scenario with the money I made here + minimum.), no loyal losses, levelling the loyal initiate before taking on the southern lich, stoning ghosts and liches, balance - you effectively can't reinforce for the rest of the scenario when you throw Konrad into battle.

My plan is invariably (because it works out fine) to take out the southern lich with merfolk (warrior trident and priestess + one or two more units at most) at daytime - terrain is more suitable for them in the south - if you levelled the hunter he comes handy too - without overrecruiting merfolk. Skeletons in water are easy to take out. And the castle is quite approachable from the sea.

The rest + Konrad (level3 for leadership and contributing to fighting where necessary) take out the northern lich. Put experience into footpads (outlaws with leadership are great against undead) and poachers. I trigger Moremirmu first, I thought he is random, but for me he was always in the same spot until now. If you trigger the trap have your units in shape before going in there - levelling is a good way to heal. Accidentally finished on turn 20 this time. (Lost income from some turns as there is no early finish bonus - don't really understand that. If you manage to just surround a whittled down northern lich and wait some more turns, it would help.)

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

10, one of my favourite scenarios.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

(1) What difficulty level and version...?
Medium, 1.8.6.(2) How difficult...?
4/10. I won first time, but with some significant losses. Not a complete victory, though: I didn't manage to kill either of the liches and so had to leave the wizard behind.(3) How clear...objectives?
Very clear. Kill, main, destroy. Or last out till the ship arrives.(4) How clear and interesting...storyline...?
Quite interesting.(5) What were your major challenges...?
Maintaining the balance between sending my forces forward and keeping them within range of healing and reinforcement. Same as in many scenarios really, but in this one it seemed more difficult.(6) How fun...?
8/10. Very entertaining: one of the better scenarios.(7) ...changes...?
None that I can think of. It would be nice, when the ship arrives, to have the option of saying "no hang on a minute, we've nearly defeated them..." but I suppose there has to be some encouragement to kill off the enemies in good time.

The outlaws on the three sisters are meant to be descended from those in Liberty, right? It would be very cool if events from that campaign could somehow affect this one. My suspicion is that it might not be technically feasible, but gaining Harper (who was but a lad in that campaign) at his experience level would be a very cool touch.

You might need some way of distinguishing Harper which involves a minor rewrite to that campaign so that he gets a very minor bonus that sets him out from regular units of his kind (e.g. he learns the art of camoflague during the Hide and Seek scenario and gets +10% defensive terrain in Forests, hardly a game-breaker but something that an observant player might notice)